Resit paper
August 2008
Individual Assignment Deadline 15th August 2008
Students are required to answer all questions:
Question 1:
To what extent does Black & Decker’s internationalisation fit with theories of internationalisation?
Question 2:
Describe Black & Decker’s organisational structure at the end of the case study. Discuss whether a different organisation structure would be more suitable for Black & Decker in the future.
Question 3:
Taking the nature and scope of Black & Decker’s operations, recommend an appropriate HRM strategy for Black & Decker’s future.
All questions are equally weighted.
The report length guideline is approximately 3000 words.
Assessment criteria:
• Critical analysis and evaluation of international strategies in relation to theory and literature, the latter to include relevant and up-to-date journal articles. • Well argued coherent recommendations and conclusions relevant to the case under scrutiny and the questions set. • Appropriate standards of presentation.
Please note the importance of underpinning your answers with appropriate theory, derived from journal articles. You must use the Harvard referencing system to cite all sources. You should undertake a literature search for each question, using academic bibliographies accessed via the electronic library.
The following case study is based on the Black & Decker case study in Hill, C. (2007), International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace, 6th edition, NY: Mc Graw Hill:
Strategic and organization change at Black and Decker
Known primarily for its power tools, Black & Decker is one of the world's older multinational corporations. The company was founded in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1910, and by the end of the 1920s had become a small multinational company with operations in Canada and Britain. Today the company has two well-known brands, Black &